Before the home console, video arcades were the go-to place for hardcore gamers. It was simple back then, bringing a belt full of quarters and competing to beat your friends' high scores. At least, that's what I've been told. Arcades are pretty barren nowadays, which just looks sad.

I still find it exciting to see old machines of obscure games in arcades, especially if they are still in good condition. Pinball machines, which have been around longer than electronic games, are exciting to see as well. I've been to a city museum once that had a row of pinball machines that were old enough to still use rolling slots for their score counters, and only cost a single quarter to play. No one cares about them anymore today. All I ever see nowadays is DDR and golf and hunting games.

Long-time gamers: what was your best experience in an arcade? What machine did you pour the most money into? Perhaps you bought a machine for your own home?

Arcades were awesome and they were everywhere. PacMan (currently have the title at our movie theater here), Defender, Pole Position, Qbert, Karate Champ, Mortal Combat, Street Fighter... and Dragon's Lair was just incredible! Having a game that was a cartoon was amazing.

Man, can you even find an arcade these days? I haven't seen one since, I dunno, '03.

Best experience? Probably the time back in college when that adorable British goth girl at the change booth came on to me.

Oh, you mean playing? I finished Mortal Kombat 4 with Raiden. The only coin-op game I ever made it to the end of. Or some of the four-handed Gauntlet sessions we had. It was like proto-4e D&D, everybody jockeying to get into the right position relative to everyone else & trying to coordinate attacks.

The university that I used to go to had an arcade and I think that is the last 'real' arcade that I can remember seeing around here. Unfortunately, it was usually populated by WoW addicts, so I tried to avoid it as much as possible. For games, they had:

Even back when arcades were popular, I still preferred playing them at home. If I was around in the 70's, I think I would have enjoyed arcades more because that would be the only opportunity to really enjoy those types of games. I was never that good at them and after a while, I could not justify spending a quarter on a game where I would die in about 5 minutes.

With that being said, there are some arcade games that were better than the home consoles. For example, Crusin' World was so much better with the steering wheel and the pedals. In fact, any driving game was better than the home version. Also, I am still angry that they haven't ported The Simpson's to any console as I would buy that in a heartbeat. Any of the games that Kurzyk listed are so much better to play in the arcades.

My friend went to Japan last year and he mentioned that arcades are still very popular there which I found rather amazing. I have another friend who has like 3 pinball machines and those are a blast to play every now and then.

Ahhhh, memories. It is a shame that people are being born and will have no idea on what an arcade is...

Almost forgot about Lethal Enforcers. That has to be my all-time favorite light-gun shooter - blowing out tires, shooting down signs & lights, blasting right through cover with the magnum bullets... Who knows how many rolls I put into that game?

The university that I used to go to had an arcade and I think that is the last 'real' arcade that I can remember seeing around here. Unfortunately, it was usually populated by WoW addicts, so I tried to avoid it as much as possible. For games, they had:

Even back when arcades were popular, I still preferred playing them at home. If I was around in the 70's, I think I would have enjoyed arcades more because that would be the only opportunity to really enjoy those types of games. I was never that good at them and after a while, I could not justify spending a quarter on a game where I would die in about 5 minutes.

With that being said, there are some arcade games that were better than the home consoles. For example, Crusin' World was so much better with the steering wheel and the pedals. In fact, any driving game was better than the home version. Also, I am still angry that they haven't ported The Simpson's to any console as I would buy that in a heartbeat. Any of the games that Kurzyk listed are so much better to play in the arcades.

My friend went to Japan last year and he mentioned that arcades are still very popular there which I found rather amazing. I have another friend who has like 3 pinball machines and those are a blast to play every now and then.

Ahhhh, memories. It is a shame that people are being born and will have no idea on what an arcade is...

Is that the side scrolling beat 'em up version? If it is, then god yes. I poured so much money into that thing when I was like 12 and on holiday... and was so disappointed when the Simpsons video game I paid for had no resembance to it.

Is that the side scrolling beat 'em up version? If it is, then god yes. I poured so much money into that thing when I was like 12 and on holiday... and was so disappointed when the Simpsons video game I paid for had no resembance to it.

I managed 3 arcades with in two years (same company) I can't stand going into arcades today. The machines are dirty, the laser guns don't line up and the pin ball machines aren't waxed overall crap compared to how i kept my stores. Not to mention that the cheap games are now 50 cents a pop. That's not the atmosphere that i want to spend my dimes in.

Arcades.... I think I remember those. I was never much into stuff like that, but people I hung out with liked them.

There used to be one in the mall, I have no idea what happened to it. I just remember going there with some boys from my boy scout troop when we were there doing some kind of fund raising or something. Thar was way back in the 6th grade.

I always did love pinball though. I remember having a gameboy with Tetris and Kirby Pinball. I used to sit and play that thing for hours until the batteries exploded. Unfortunately my parents couldn't afford to get me another one, so that was the end of that.

A bar I go to once in a while has a pinball machine and I play sometimes. The nearest movie theater has a little room with some arcade games too. But no, you don't see them around much anymore.

My best memory? Winning a Marvel vs Capcom tournament as Mega Man. Nobody seemed to respect the blue bomber in that game but I tore the competition a new one. The prize was a $20 dollar gift certificate at Electronic Boutique which I spent on Descent 3

Ah.. Arcades.. I recall me and my brother being universally feared in Cyberball (we liked to crunch the other teams QBs.. one night we did another duo for like.. 60 minutes or more. MULTIPLE shut outs.)

That and I recall my little brother one shoting Sagat in the SF. He blew the guy away as he leapt into a dragon punch. The ENTIRE arcade just stopped.

I've been fascinated by pinball machines. Not all of them were the standard two-flippers-at-the-bottom type at first. That wasn't the norm at first.

What was the first machine to keep a record of all the high scores?The first machine to become motion sensitive and lock up the flippers if the player tried tilting the table?The first machine where you could obtain extra balls if certain conditions were met?The first machine to have a "match" function where, after losing your last ball, the machine would pick a random number, and if it matched up with the last digit(s) of your score, you would get one more ball to play?

There was a four month period where my dad had shipped off overseas while we were waiting my mom and I were waiting for orders to join him. There was a mix up with the pay, so we were not getting any of dad's paycheck, so mom was working at 7/11. Once a month, we would splurge and drive 10 miles into Abeline to the arcade there and blow $10 in quarters.

The only arcades I see anymore are the ones of movie theaters. I don't know how it is elsewhere, but just about every movie theater around me has a small arcade. There is one actual arcade (Like, that's what the whole building is) not too super far from here, as well.

My favorite ones to play are ANY of the shooter games. Yeah, the guns are crappy, and you waste about a thousand bullets trying to actually hit whatever you're aiming at, but they're still tons of fun.

I actually went looking for an arcade with a mate aout 6 months ago... well sat drinking at his place while googling for an arcade. This was in pretty central London and for the place that used to house the (generally terrile) Sega World we didn't think it would e too hard...

How wrong we were.

It seems arcades are limited to 3 places these days... movie theatres, bowling alleys and motorway service stations. I have to say, my wallet isn't complaining but I find it a it sad that they've fallen so far... a casualty of the incredile leaps home systems have made.

As sad as it is, I think it has been like eight years since I have been to an arcade. That's how long it was since the last one in the mall here shut down. It was an amazing place with all the standard fare, but it also had a ton of imported, Japanese, sit-down arcade cabinets with really fun games I had never even heard of. The best of those was this top down shooter involving dragons, I really wish I knew the name of that game.